BIRDING: HARARE WETLANDS

2½ birding days (Harare wetlands, miombo)

Focus: Harare wetland species

The Harare area supports a large number of birds through diverse habitats ranging from miombo woodlands to wetlands and dams, grasslands and granite formations, large and small. Miombo and wetland birds tend to be the primary focus.

Target birds

Wetland species include Yellow-mantled and White-winged Widowbirds, Yellow Bishops, Streaky-breasted Flufftail, Striped Crake, Black Coucal, Dwarf Bittern, Marsh Owl, Yellow-throated, Rosy-throated and Cape Longclaw, African Crake

Miombo specialists including Whyte’s Barbet, Green-backed Honeybird, Wood Pipit, Striped Pipit, White-breasted Cuckooshrike, Boulder Chat, Miombo Rock-thrush, Collared Flycatcher (in season), Stierling’s Wren-warbler, Southern Hyliota, Green-capped Eremomela, Red-faced Crombec, Miombo Tit, African Spotted Creeper, Western Violet-backed Sunbird, Miombo Double-collared Sunbird, Miombo Blue-eared Starling and Black-eared Seedeater.

Ease of birding

Many birds will be easy to see whilst some are elusive or seasonal. Miombo woodlands tend to be quiet in the afternoons so there is the opportunity to sample other habitats for other species. These areas require some walking in hilly terrain but present no difficulty for persons of average fitness. Harare`s wetlands are seasonally flooded and therefore birding for the special wetland species is mostly seasonal (Gum boots a must!)